The present invention is directed to a food container and utensil wherein the container has a compartment for holding the food and an opening through which the compartment may be accessed, a lid which covers the opening and has a generally flat upper surface, an elongated utensil is assembled with the container by a bubble arrangement which holds the utensil on the upper surface of the lid and the combination includes an indicating arrangement which will indicate to a sightless person or a person whose sight is impaired, either the type of utensil in the bubble or the type of food being held in the container. While this indicator can utilize the sense of smell, it preferably is either that the material for the bubble arrangement is moldable to enable feeling the utensil within the bubble or is a strip of braille information, either applied to the utensil, the bubble or the container.
When one packages foods for individual servings, such as for use with lunches, it is desirable that the container containing the food will also include a utensil for eating the contents of the container. Various arrangements for including a utensil or other item in a container are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,514,379; 2,433,926; 2,469,343; 2,584,379; 3,112,824; 3,208,625; 3,381,876; 3,624,787; 3,679,093; 3,722,779; 3,828,999; 3,908,887; 4,036,398; and 4,300,700. In many of these disclosures, a rather complicated container structure is provided simply to hold the utensil. For example, pockets or depressions are formed in the container wall or lid to accommodate the utensil. Others of the proposals leave the utensil exposed to the environment and, thus, to contamination. Still others of the proposals provide for placement and holding of the utensil on the interior wall of the container so that room which might otherwise be used for holding the container's content is used for holding the utensil. Thus, in this last group, the purchaser of the goods may not be aware that it comes with a utensil or that a utensil may occupy a majority of the volume of the container.
In some of the above Patents, due to mounting the utensil on the lid of the container, the utensil is separated or folded. Examples of such arrangements are disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,624,787 and 4,036,398. In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,288,617 and 3,056,200, along with British Patent Specification 4102 of 1901 all disclose utensils, such as a fork, which may be folded or moved from a contracted position to an expanded or extended position. Such a utensil, which can be expanded from a contracted position, will have a smaller dimension for purposes of storage and may be desirable for mounting on a container of a small size.
Of the above-mentioned items, a plastic bubble, which is transparent and, thus, allows a person to visually see the utensil, will not enable a person who has impaired sight or is blind to easily determine what utensil or object is being included with the container. Also, for the person whose sight is impaired, the difficulty of determining the contents of the container as to the food in addition to the utensil, may be a problem.